Stroll over to the annual Holiday Open House at the Taza Chocolate Factory to sip & savor as you shop local vendors and stone ground chocolate, including NEW Taza Limited treats fresh out of the factory for the holidays!

You can also stock up on our bulk chocolate by the pound for all of your holiday baking!

This year they pulled out all the stops with guided chocolate tastings behind the scenes in their roasting room throughout the day!

They will be serving up free samples of hot chocolate made with their Spiked Eggnog Chocolate Mexicano to keep you warmed up while you shop from an amazing lineup of vendors this year. They will have a host of gift options for every single person on your list and a few ways to sweeten your deals this weekend.

The City of Somerville announced today that it is forming a community advisory committee to assist in the review and recommendation of capital improvement projects for upcoming fiscal years. The committee, which will comprise five community members, will work with City staff to review and provide feedback and recommendations, on behalf of the entire community, on project prioritization.

Background

The City has historically released a multiyear Capital Investment Plan (CIP) annually that establishes specific timelines for needed capital improvement projects, ranging from annual street and sidewalk repairs to major building and open space improvements to critical infrastructure upgrades. Moving forward, the City will continue to establish specific timelines for critical projects, but will now also work annually with the CIP Advisory Committee to review and prioritize additional projects based on available resources and community needs. All capital projects are submitted to the Board of Aldermen for funding approval.

Qualifications and Requirements

The City is seeking five community members (residents, business leaders, community stakeholders) who have a strong knowledge of the City of Somerville and the interests of the general community, with preferred backgrounds in fields such as urban design, municipal government and/or government management, and capital finance, though all interested community members are encouraged to apply.

Advisory Committee members will be appointed for two- or three-year terms, and will be required to attend regular meetings over the course of several consecutive months each year to meet with City staff, and to discuss projects and create a set of recommendations.

How to Apply

Interested applicants should submit a resume and cover letter to SomerStat, the Mayor’s Office of Innovation and Analytics, by Monday, January 9, at 5 p.m., by emailing Michael Mastrobuoni (MMastrobuoni@somervillema.gov).

The City of Somerville does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, national origin, disability or any other protected category. Auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures will be provided to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities free of charge, upon request.

If you need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access this program, please contact the ADA Coordinator no later than seven (7) business days before the scheduled event at the address noted below:

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

A narrative gaining credence is that Donald Trump’s victory represents the triumph of his economic populism over Hillary Clinton’s identity politics. A more accurate reading, I think, is that Donald Trump could not have succeeded without alloying economic populism with 48 years of Republican identity politics.

Over that period, Republicans represented their political gains as the result of promoting more persuasive ideas. In fact, their ideas were always disproven by reality.

Tax cuts on the wealthy did not produce sustainable economic growth. Trade deals rewarded participating countries’ elites while their poor and working people grew poorer. Disinvestment from infrastructure, research, and education crippled our economic vitality. Deregulation led directly to the great recession.

The driving force behind Republican gains was the cultivation and manipulation of identities, beginning with the Nixon southern strategy’s political realignment of the former Confederacy. Ronald Reagan continued it, launching his presidential campaign in Neshoba County, Mississippi, where White racists had murdered three civil rights workers. His message and its intended audience were unmistakable.

Newt Gingrich’s vaunted “contract with America” had little to do with his successful campaign to retake the House of Representatives in 1994. His strategy was identity politics.

Beginning in 1990, his GOP Action Committee had instructed its network to memorize a list of “optimistic positive governing words” such as “common sense,” “freedom” and “principled” to describe Republicans, and a list of such “contrasting words” as “excuses,” “pathetic” and “stagnation” to disparage Democrats.

Over the ensuing decades the GOP was able to elaborate and proliferate this strategy through an expanding system of political operatives, fundraising operations, friendly evangelical leaders, and media demagogues. Trump became the Republican nominee because his sixteen competitors competed on ideological purity, while he manipulated identity.

Meanwhile, the Democratic establishment increasingly made identity-based appeals to African American, Latino, LGBTQ, and women voters, while collaborating on policies that increased economic hardship for working Americans, regardless of their identity.

Although Democrats controlled the presidency for sixteen of the last twenty-four years, and both houses of Congress for four of them, living-wage jobs gradually disappeared. Median family incomes declined. Housing, healthcare and education costs steadily increased. Life expectancy among White working-class men decreased.

The local institutions in which people find wholeness continued to fall apart as well. As I suggested in Part 1, when extended families disintegrate, communities unravel, and patriotism becomes less credible, humans need something to fill the identity vacuum.

The Republican network was there to coalesce into shared identity the shared bitterness of White rural and working people who felt economically and culturally abandoned. Once identity crystalizes, facts become much less important.

“Identity” in this case means a set of mutually reinforcing ideas about who people like us are, and who those not like us are. Trump appealed to voters who see themselves as honest and hardworking, but who are ignored, disrespected, and denied what is rightfully theirs.

Many of them feel that their faith is being ridiculed as well. And Democrats like Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, who themselves rejected gay marriage five years ago, play into this when they squander substantial political capital on matters like restroom fights.

Identity politics are indispensable to empowering oppressed groups. But they are less helpful in establishing common cause and common purpose across an electorate whose essential needs and hopes have much more in common than they have differences.

And they are counterproductive when key groups are excluded, especially in an age of declining motivation and opportunity to experience empathy. Hillary Clinton’s campaign appearances involved a series of shout outs to certain identity groups. The absence of white working voters in this political bonhomie did not go unnoticed by them.

Sadly and ironically, this celebration of “minority groups” reinforced perceptions nurtured by right-wing media. The narrative is something like, “As hard as we work, and as virtuous as we are, it gets harder to make ends meet, while government is generous to people who are less deserving.” This resonates with popular-culture depictions (dominating a more problematic reality) suggesting that the lives of minority group members have been steadily improving.

Many liberals wonder how White voters without college degrees could vote two-to-one for a party whose policies are inimical to their wellbeing. And how white evangelicals could vote four-to-one for a candidate whose every behavior was the opposite of what Jesus taught.

They didn’t vote their faith. They voted their identity.

Their hatred for “government” is not based on Republican small-government philosophy, but on the felt certainty that government doesn’t deserve our money and allegiance because it doesn’t respect us and take care of us—a more liberal attitude. Some portion of the bitterness is, indeed, about race. But its potency comes from lived conditions.

Those conditions were the focus of Donald Trump’s and Bernie Sanders’ campaigns, while Hillary Clinton’s campaign lacked focus. With Sanders’ departure, Trump became their personal messenger.

Exit polls reported that 25 percent of Trump voters believed that he is unfit to be president. Filmmaker and Michigan native Michael Moore explained this seeming contradiction when he predicted Trump’s victory: “He is the human Molotov cocktail that they’ve been waiting for, the human hand grenade that they can legally throw into the system that stole their lives from them.” Trump’s “fitness” didn’t matter.

Advancing the “arc of the moral universe” that Martin Luther King spoke of must always include supporting the struggles of oppressed people. But we are most successful at that when we show, through word and deed, how those struggles are inseparably linked to the wellbeing of us all.

King’s movement was successful because he appealed not only to African Americans’ particularistic concerns, but to the truth that we, as Americans, are better than Jim Crow. He came to understand that the struggle for justice ultimately turned on class, and he died as a leader in a labor dispute.

By abandoning working people over the last 35 years, the Democratic Party lost its ability to mobilize citizens based on class grievances. So mobilization around identity grievances became the best, though inadequate, alternative. That’s the subject of the next column in this series.

]]>http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/72429/feed0Shop local for the holidays with Somerville Local Firsthttp://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/72310
http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/72310#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 23:29:56 +0000http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/?p=72310

Remember to shop local this coming Sunday afternoon as Somerville Local First Holiday Market sets up at Arts at the Armory for some fun seasonal shopping.

By Ariana Colozzo

The holiday season is in full swing; Christmas music is on the radio, houses are strung with lights and everyone is scrambling to find the perfect gift for the family members and friends on their lists. But holiday shopping isn’t always easy, especially when the lists seem to get longer each year.

Finding the perfect gift for your mother-in-law is difficult. Black Friday shopping is hectic and stressful. Running from store to store while getting the house cleaned and decorated for the holiday dinner can seem impossible. Coming up with a funny, but not cliché gift for the office grab may take more effort than you’re willing to give. What if there was another way?

Join sponsors Float Boston, Work Shop Salon, e. scott originals and over 40 local vendors at the second annual Somerville Local First Holiday Market. Stop by the Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave on Sunday, December 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and shop local for all your presents. You’ll find beautiful gifts on any budget while supporting local artists, designers and makers.

Whether you’re only looking for a few more gifts or you haven’t even stepping inside a store, the Holiday Market has it all: handcrafted goods, sweet treats, home décor, accessories, art, jewelry, apparel and more. There’s something for everyone on your list. Check out Barefoot Books for a heartwarming children’s story, Deano’s Pasta for handmade pasta that will impress any foodie or Middle Dune Paper Goods for a custom notebook for your favorite writer.

The fashionistas in your life will love the unique jewelry from Porcelain and Stone or a leather bag from Empty Provisions, and when in doubt, a warm, hand-knitted piece from Dylanium Knits and one of Kittredge Candles’ 180 scents are a perfect gift for even the hardest to please.

Besides, the best parts of the holidays are the things you do together. The Holiday Market is free and fun for the whole family. Reward your little ones (or yourself) after a long day of shopping with treats from Sugar Buff Bake Shop or Spindler Confections, and don’t forget a doggie bag for your furry friends at home from Camberville Dog Treats.

Even if you finished your holiday shopping, there’s still plenty to see. Stop by for a little present for yourself, and don’t forget to grab some tea from Tamin Tea and a throw blanket from Burrow Handmade Goods to snuggle up with for your next holiday movie marathon.

Mayor Curtatone is seeking applications from Somerville residents to serve on the Mayor’s Commission on Energy Use and Climate Change (CEUCC). The CEUCC advises the City and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Environment on climate change and energy policy issues and assists the City in program design and outreach related to these topics.

In the past, the Commission has advised the City on a number of topics, including energy performance of city buildings, the Residential Energy Efficiency Program, community choice aggregation of electricity, and residential solar. Commission members will advise the City on upcoming sustainability initiatives including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts, innovative approaches to energy efficiency, and community outreach and education on climate change and energy. The CEUCC typically meets monthly at on the second Wednesday of the month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Tufts Administration Building located at 167 Holland Street.

The CEUCC is composed of seven Somerville residents and one City staff member who serves as an ex-officio member. Appointments are for a period of three years. The City seeks Somerville residents with a background in energy, climate change, and community outreach to apply by submitting a resume and a letter of interest that specifies the applicant’s relevant background and purpose for serving on the CEUCC. While the CEUCC principally provides technical and policy advice to the City, members of the community with an interest in sustainability and experience in community engagement are encouraged to apply.

Applicants are encouraged to attend the next CEUCC meeting prior to submitting a letter of interest. The next meeting is scheduled for January 11, 2017. Please submit a letter of interest by close of business (4:30 p.m.) on January 31, 2017, by email to Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Director of Sustainability & Environment, at ogarcia@somervillema.gov.

Police officers were dispatched to the intersection of Grand Union Boulevard and Mystic Avenue last week on reports of a male passed out behind the wheel in a stopped vehicle.

Upon arrival, the officers spoke with a Boston Fire Engine Company that was on routine patrol and was flagged down by concerned citizens. The Firefighters said it took them numerous attempts to wake up the driver.

As the officers revived the driver, later identified as Eladio Figueroa, of Charlestown, he reportedly told them that everything was OK, he was just intoxicated. The officers reported that they could detect the odor of alcohol and that Figueroa’s eyes were red and glossy.

According to reports, Figueroa was asked for his driver’s license and, after fumbling around in his pockets for awhile, eventually produced a pack of cigarettes which he offered to the officers.

One of the officers reportedly explained to the man that the pack of cigarettes was not his driver’s license, and Figueroa responded that the officers should look for the license themselves.

After searching for a while, the officers determined that they could not find his driver’s license. However, under his driver’s seat was a large steak knife. In plain view on the center console was a small bottle of cognac that appeared to be about half full. Also on the passenger side floorboard was an open case of beer with multiple bottles missing. An empty bottle of beer was also located on the back passenger side floor which, after further inspection, was found to still be cold, and the beer that was still inside the bottle was filled with bubbles. This led officers to believe that the beer had been consumed very recently.

The officers noticed that Figueroa had a small scrape under his right eye that was starting to swell. He was asked if he would like medical attention for his injury and he reportedly said that he had been in a fight and that he would like to get a gun and shoot the person he had been fighting with.

Figueroa was asked if he had a gun, and he reportedly replied, “Yup around here somewhere.” The officers searched inside the vehicle for a gun, but one was not found. Figueroa eventually told them, “There’s nothing in there, it’s in Charlestown”.

It was determined that Figueroa was unable to perform any field sobriety tests, and could not even successfully take a breathalyzer test, and was uncooperative and combative throughout the questioning process.

Figueroa was taken into custody and charged with open alcohol container in a motor vehicle and operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

You may already know that CAAS provides comprehensive preschool and wraparound services to hundreds of families each year through Head Start.

You may not know that CAAS acts as a safety net for these and other families when they are in crisis — whether that’s the threat of homelessness or a disaster taking everything.

A Head Start family of four lost their home and all their belongings in a massive East Cambridge fire that destroyed or damaged 16 buildings over the weekend.

CAAS Family Advocates have been working tirelessly with the family to provide shelter, clothing, food and transportation assistance. They are also working with the City and other agencies to coordinate supportive services.

Your low-income neighbors need your support now and throughout the year in order to emerge safely and securely from these types of events.

Your donation today will support our ongoing efforts to serve and advocate for families in their times of need.

We know you share our belief that no family should face these crises alone. Thank you for your support!

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Taking a closer look at this month’s notable city data.

8: That’s the percent of Somerville High School students who reported taking part in binge alcohol use (consuming 5 or more drinks in a row within a couple hours) on a recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey administered by the Massachusetts Department of Education. While this figure shows a significant decline from the 21 percent of students who reported binge drinking to the same degree in 2006, it proves there is still work to be done to ensure our youth are engaging in safe and productive behavior.

19: That’s the average number of package thefts reported between Thanksgiving and Christmas during each of the past two years. This figure represents 25 percent of the yearly total reported package thefts. But the actual number of package thefts is possibly higher as Somerville Police suspect that not all thefts are reported because some people may think wrongly that nothing can be done. However, in the past our police department has been able make some arrests and recover some of the stolen items. You should take necessary precautions to avoid package theft altogether like providing specific delivery instructions to your shipper, requesting that your carrier hold your packages at their facility, or having your package delivered to a place where someone is usually around to bring it inside immediately. But if you do have a package stolen, it’s important to report the theft to the Somerville Police Department so that they can track the theft and make an attempt to recover the items. For more tips on reducing package thefts, visit http://bit.ly/PackageTips.

40,874: That’s the number of Somerville residents who voted in last month’s Presidential election, meaning we surpassed our 2012 Presidential election voter turnout of 72.36 percent. With our 12 days of early voting and usual Election Day polling places, 75.19 percent of registered Somerville voters headed out to the polls this year. That puts us right on par with the Commonwealth as a whole, which reported and overall 75 percent turnout, and well ahead of national turnout, which was 58 percent. Now that the voting is done, it’s time to stay involved in your community, your state, and your nation to ensure you can help shape your government and your future.

1,260: That’s the approximate total number of people who go on the Somerville Arts Council’s 36 Illumination Tours each year. This year’s Illumination Tour date is set for Saturday, December 17, from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m., and tickets are on sale now. Come join us as we take a trolley through the City and admire the transformation of our neighbors’ yards to displays of bright lights and festive décor. Tours are available in both East Somerville and West Somerville, and coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies will be served. For more information on how to purchase tickets, visit http://somervilleartscouncil.org/illuminationstour.

]]>http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/72356/feed0Letter to the Editor – December 7http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/72353
http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/72353#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 01:21:48 +0000http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/?p=72353(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

I’m writing to urge the Board of Aldermen to approve Somerville’s $50 million funding of the Green Line Extension. Financial analysis of the bond issue is complex, and I can’t begin to offer an opinion on it. I think we have to have faith that our city and legislative delegation have negotiated the best deal that we get in order to have the GLX go forward. We need to remember that there are some in the Baker Administration which would be extremely happy to cancel the project using our indecision or lack of approval of this as an excuse.

So rather than going over all that I just want to remind people of the incredible benefits that would come from the extension of the Green Line. We all know how central the GLX is to current economic development in Union Square, and in the future for Inner Belt and Brickbottom.

There are also the important quality of life improvements for the 60% of our city that would be, now, within a half mile of the Green Line—this means they have much better access to work, to classes, to medical care, to recreation. It is a life-changing thing when people get an extra half-hour in their day to do whatever they want with.

The GLX will act as a stimulus for current businesses, critical in places like Union Square and Magoun Square – and even to some extent Ball Square — that don’t have enough daytime population. With the GLX they’ll have frequent easy access over light rail.

It also will bring vital environmental and public health benefits – after all, the starting point of this project was to improve air quality. Using light rail also encourages healthier lifestyles with less driving and more walking and biking

Finally, there will be direct benefits in terms of local jobs, right away in construction, and long-term jobs from the development that will be stimulated.

So please, don’t kill this project. It’s the Board’s duty to look hard at the bond proposal, but in the end I think you have to find a way to go ahead and approve this funding. It’s really now or never.